Microgeneration can be expensive. Microgeneration isn't suitable for every home. However, the right technology in the right location will deliver a reliable source of energy that will help reduce your carbon footprint, cut your energy bills and through combined savings and income may deliver a better return on your investment than putting your money in a bank, particularly while interest rates remain low.
Microgeneration doesn't just make good environmental sense. It makes good economic sense too.
Generating your own - a good investment
The starting price for generating your own energy is approximately £3,750. The top end for microgeneration is in excess of £50,000. So, if you choose to invest, whatever the technology, the decision you make will not be made lightly and part of that decision will be based on the finances of the project.
To help you decide you will want to know how much less energy you need to buy from your energy supply and the value of that energy. You will also want to know how much energy you will generate and its value, as through Good Energy's Generator Schemes you can get paid for the power you produce. And you will need to know the life expectancy of your generator to evaluate the savings you can make over its years of operation.
Provided your generator is correctly sited and installed (Good Energy will never allow an installation to proceed unless the generator will deliver its potential), we believe that investing in microgeneration can deliver a handsome return. Microgeneration isn't simply about making the right decision for the environment, it can be the right decision for your savings too.
Generating your own - to achieve energy security
According to numbers from the Department of Business and Regulatory Reform (BERR) domestic electricity prices rose by 19.7 per cent in real terms from the first quarter of 2008 to the first quarter of 2009. Domestic gas prices rose by a whopping 34.8 per cent in real terms in the same period. Just a blip? Well, since 1998 domestic gas and electricity prices have risen by more than 50% so it's fair to say that energy prices are on a rising trend!
We experience volatile energy prices because we're running out of energy resources. The UK has considerably depleted its gas and oil reserves, both of which we use for heating and electricity generation. Global demand for fossil fuels is rising which increases their value. Even the UK's nuclear power stations are winding down and if new stations are built they will not be generating electricity before 2020. It's likely that the best we can expect in the coming years is further energy price rises. The worst case scenario is energy shortages leading to rolling black-outs.
So what does that mean for microgeneration? Generating your own energy can insulate you from feeling the full effects of major price increases. Solar PV panels and small-scale wind turbines can be expected to generate 30 to 50% of your home's electricity requirement, cutting your bill by a corresponding amount. If energy prices continue to rise,, you can expect to receive more money for the electricity you generate. A ‘win, win' situation for microgenerators.
And, if you're making your own heat and power you're much less dependent on heat and power from the grid and therefore less exposed to power failures.
Not only is it good for you, microgeneration is good for the country. In conjunction with large scale renewables, Microgeneration has the potential to plug the ‘Energy gap' faster than new nuclear capacity without any of the environmental hazards. As well as helping increase the UK's energy security it can underpin the beginning of a new, low carbon economy and deliver sustainable growth.
Generating your own - to solve climate change
Since 1900, the average temperature on the planet has increased by 0.74 degrees Celsius and the UK's sea level has risen by about 10 cm. Further global rises are expected, as well as more extreme weather events like flooding and drought. This increase in temperature has been caused by the increase in carbon dioxide (CO2) in our atmosphere, most of which has been created by burning fossil fuels to generate the heat and power that we use. IF we don't stop burning fossil fuels and if we fail to stabilise the levels of carbon dioxide at 350 parts per million we will almost certainly experience dangerous climate change.
According to the Stern Report (November 2007):
"... by the middle of the century, 200 million people may become permanently displaced due to rising sea levels, heavier floods, and more intense droughts... There will be serious risks and increasing pressures for coastal protection in South East Asia (Bangladesh and Vietnam), small islands in the Caribbean and the Pacific, and large coastal cities, such as Tokyo, New York, Cairo and London." The Stern Report, November 2007.
We need to cut our CO2 emissions, and we need to do it now.
The first step is to reduce our energy consumption. There are plenty of ways to do this --you can find out more at www.goodenergyshop.co.uk.
We also need to ‘decarbonise' the energy we use-- stop burning fossil fuels and start using renewables. The average carbon footprint of a UK citizen is approximately 10 tons, with a third coming from the heat and electricity we use. Over a year, a 2kW solar PV panel will produce enough electricity to displace or ‘save' 0.75 of a ton of CO2 while a 6kW wind turbine can save over 5 tons of CO2. So clearly microgeneration can help us reduce our carbon footprints dramatically and help to decarbonise the UK's energy.